From Gooseberries to Gondolas You'll Find it All at Tatton

If fun, friendly and relaxed is how you like it, then make a trip to the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park (18 – 22 July), which has plenty of treats in store for garden lovers everywhere.

The Show gardens will be trailblazing with inspired, creative and fantastical designs. A Sputnik installation will pay homage to past orbits in the ‘Spaced Out’ Show garden, to celebrate 50 years of space exploration, while Phillippa Probert’s ‘Forest Fusion’ design will fast forward us into the future, where jungle-style shrubbery will surround a ‘Smart’ glass pod shelter that has special heat and light technology.

Tatton Park’s very own flower bed in conjunction with Cheshire County Council will be using a gondola as its centrepiece to pay homage to Venice and the estate’s Italian gardens, while the Anthony Nolan Trust hopes to blow visitors away with ‘The Bubble Garden’ that captures the innocence and imagination of childhood.

Tatton will be leading the renaissance of the most quintessentially of English summer fruits, the gooseberry. Of the nine gooseberry societies in the UK, eight are located in Cheshire, and all will be at the show displaying their champion fruits and heritage varieties in the National Plant Societies Marquee. Also to be revealed are some of the gooseberry growing secrets, like the ‘Ode to the Gooseberry Grower’ song, which dates back to 1895.

Floral fanciers will be delighted to know that flower power is in vogue at Tatton. Fiona Hogg will bring together a collection of plants ideal for use in floral art with ‘The Flower Arranger’s Garden’, where the featured flowers will be arranged according to the principles of form, texture and the colour wheel. ‘Flower Power’ from Finchale Training College will create a colour surge using renewable energy to establish a lush and vibrant garden. A hidden sump will collect water to irrigate, a solar panel to power the pumps and a lunar pavement that will give the space a feeling of abstract art.

After all that walking around you’ll need some sustenance, so why not visit a couple of thirsty Back to Back gardens. Jacqui Brocklehurst has designed ‘The Herbal Tea Party’, blending eastern ethos with western design, while Rory McVean’s ‘Quench’ will feature Hordium plants for brewing beer, and citrus trees to provide a refreshing slice for the ultimate G&T!

Not forgetting the wonderful abundance of marquees, shopping and eating opportunities on offer, as well as the advice that can be picked up from the growers and RHS Gardening Advice Desk, this will round off what is sure to be a spectacular show.